Just when there wasn’t anything happening… French edition coming out on 16th June. The city in the background could easily by Furymouth. Dragon’s not quite how I saw them (no front feet), but suitably large and muscular I reckon. No rider either. Would have made a good cover for book three but that’s starting to give things away…

I’m beginning to think this doesn’t mean what I thought it meant. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t mean what a lot of other people think it means too. Or else it doesn’t mean what I think a lot of other people think it means. In some contexts. Maybe.

Hmmm. Needs some Ming-the-Merciless beard-stroking this does.

More on this in the future, I think. In the meantime, anyone who thinks they actually know what this means, do speak up.

OK, I’ll admit to a double-take when I saw this. I suspect the contents on the end of this link changes. Never mind – trust me that in New Zealand, Womans Weekly was offering TAP as a competition prize. Got the right idea these antipodeans. No messin’.

Berren is one of “Khrozus’ Boys,” the splat of unwanted bastards that the army of Khrozus the Butcher left behind at the end of the civil war. A life of petty larceny and clearing crap off the city streets looms large, until one day he goes to watch a rare public execution and what he sees changes the whole course of his life.

If you read fantasy, you’ll almost certainly have heard of The Name of the Wind. If you don’t then it’s either

a) The back-story of a high-level AD&D bard and the inspiration for my current AD&D character.

b) The fantasy equivalent of ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt

Hmmm. b) is probably rather more convincing. Anyway, it’s a very fine book, extremely engaging (more so than any other fantasy I’ve read for a long time, including my own). The author, the very likeable Patrick Rothfuss, is in town for what will probably be the first and last time for some while, doing a signing in Forbidden Planet and a reading, for some lucky winners, at a mystery location afterwards.

In far less interesting news, my own lowly efforts are proceeding to plan. Have been a bit distracted by Facebook and Twitterness of late <insert assorted vague promises to blog more substantially at some point in the future>

If you’re really interested, you can check out an early taster for The Thief-Taker’s Apprentice

Laters

(Post-Script: Have now removed the plethora of errors from the taster. Clearly need to read own work a little more carefully before sending samples off to editor (who has very kindly not taken the piss for this rather shameful effort. Either that or TGM intervened en-route and quietly got rid of them all. Still… Glarg!))

“John Jarrold has concluded a three-book World Rights deal with Simon Spanton of Gollancz, for a YA fantasy series by novelist Stephen Deas, for a good, five-figure sum in pounds sterling. Deasâ€™ debut novel, a dragon fantasy titled THE ADAMANTINE PALACE, was published by Gollancz in March 2009 to plaudits and a fast reprint. There are two forthcoming sequels.

This new series will be interleaved with the adult dragon fantasies. The first volume, THE THIEF-TAKERâ€™S APPRENTICE, will be delivered in December 2009, for publication in early autumn 2010. Deas is presently completing final editorial work on the sequel to his debut, KING OF THE CRAGS, which is due for publication in April 2010.” (Full press release)

Yes, I can now officially announce that I’ll be signing a second contract with Gollancz for a series of books to be written and published in parallel with the current dragons series. The new books will be YA fantasy and will have almost nothing to do with the existing dragons series. Almost.

Rar!

The series will be based around an adult novel I wrote a few years ago. So since this is intended as YA, I will be a) making the protagonist somewhat older, b) adding more sex and gory violence. More later, including a snippet of the work in progress in a few weeks time, perhaps.

Finished as in I’ve reached the end. Not finished as in there’s a fair bit of work to be done before I’ll be sending it in for edit. Like sorting out the plotline that started off in King of the Crags and tripped over its own cleverness halfway through. I can hear my editor telling me to get rid of it already. But still, I get to dance my little victory jig and have a week off and slap myself on the back and stuff like that.

There’s a very fine new review up on the net here. My new best friend, I think…

“…sledgehammering the dragon mythos into fragments, in his awesome new novel The Adamantine Palace”

or how about “…a novel where the dragons finally get pissed off, and do something violent about it.” Yes, yes, the man understands… “The Adamantine Palace is about power. And those who struggle for it. Who lie for it. Who kill for it.” Yes yes yes yes!

“These are the dragons your mom warned you about, the ones lurking in the shadows, doing bad things. Horrible things. These are the predators; the ones that floss with velociraptors. Unapologetic. Vicious. Intelligent. Unstoppable. And they might not even be the biggest monsters on the block. That distinction may be reserved for the people that ride them.

One of the best fantasy books of the year.”

OK, OK, I’ll stop before I end up copying the whole review. I guess you can see by now why I’d want to…

A less good review from Lisa Tuttle writing for The Times who is firmly in the ‘want more world-building’ camp (see, it’s become such an even split of views that you can’t get a review from one side without one coming in from the other…)

“It finally begins to come to life on page 135, when we get up close and personal with a wonderfully unusual dragon … If Deas can improve his world-building skills … [spoiler deleted] … future books in this series will certainly be worth reading.” The Times online.

And, following the reprint and making the good news come in threes: Today is publication day for the Adamantine Palace down under. So come on Australia, make a decision that my Brit readers can’t: Better for being skeletal, fast and focussed in on dragons, or better to have had more world-building. The first salvo has already been fired…

(We went to Australia for our honeymoon, so please buy lots of books so we have an excuse to come back and visit again, like, very very soon).